BBC slammed by police over Cliff

South Yorkshire Police has complained to the BBC and accused it of breaching its own editorial guidelines after the broadcaster found out about a search the force was planning to carry out at the home of pop star Cliff Richard.

The singer’s Berkshire penthouse was searched for five hours on Thursday by officers from South Yorkshire and Thames Valley Police as part of an investigation into an alleged sexual assault on a boy under the age of 16 at a religious event in 1985.

South Yorkshire Police said it was “disappointing” that the BBC was slow to acknowledge that the force was not the source of the “leak”.

It acknowledged that it did confirm to a reporter at the corporation the date of the search of Sir Cliff’s house, but only because the BBC had already contacted the force to say it knew about a planned investigation.

Richard, who was in Portugal when the search took place, firmly denied any wrongdoing and hit out at the fact BBC journalists were apparently tipped off about the plan.

A press helicopter was reportedly at his home before police even arrived.

In a statement, the force reiterated that “at no point” had it leaked information, which has been confirmed publicly by the BBC.

On Friday, Jonathan Munro, the BBC’s head of news gathering, said there had been lots of questions about the original source of the story.

He tweeted: “We won’t say who, but can confirm it was not South Yorks Police.”